Whether we’ve sat in the same rooms or stared at the same problem, we’re probably ready to see something new. Our needs and preferences may vary.

But by all accounts this is a season of unique challenges. And yet, by God’s grace, it’s also a season for spiritual growth. Isaiah 43 tells us why.

After a lengthy exile, the Israelites’ sights were set on their former days. However, God wanted them to look at what He’d begun.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19 ESV)

God’s work in our lives always helps us move forward in His grace. Even amid the world’s pandemic pain and precautions, other new things have begun.

There are new realizations about what it means to be a global citizen.

New bonds have formed through sharing our resources, our faith and our pain.

We’ve discovered new heroes whose capes flap in the wind of working overtime and whose super power is selflessness.

This is just a short list. However, if our individual life feels dry or empty, Isaiah 43:19 speaks of God’s provision in our pain. He specializes in creating something out of nothing. (see Genesis 1:1-2)

It may be hard to embrace what’s new, if we’re still longing for what used to be.

The Israelites’ struggled with this too. But if we’re willing to embrace what God is doing, we’ll discover new strength through Him and new delights in Him.

What new thing has He begun in your new pace of life?

Are you being drawn to a new place you wouldn’t have considered?

How might you serve the new people you’ve met or the same people around you?

As God does a new thing, I may not always perceive it. But by His grace, I can pivot in my perspective.

It causes me to take an honest look at what’s blocking my view of the divine. There are many possibilities. But it’s often because I allow a problem to create a wall of unbelief.

However, as I release my distractions, fears and doubts to God, His faithfulness gets my attention. Every wall falls. Then I see Him making a way in the wilderness of what went wrong in my life. His river of restoration carries me to places where I grow closer to Him.

Are you ready to see the new thing He’s doing in you? I am. And if our readiness begins to falter, Ephesians 3 gives us a glimpse at what He does.

“Now to the God who can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or imagine through the power at work in us.” (Ephesians 3:20 Voice)

I’ll miss what God is doing if I only look for predictable things, explainable things or what I desire from my point of view. And yet, the cost of missing what He’s doing, is my being stuck in a state of undone.

But through faith in Christ, His redemptive power works in us. (see Philippians 1:6) He steadies our faith to behold a grace like nothing we’ve ever seen. Will we perceive it?